1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the provision of welts in cloth articles, e.g. a welt at the top of an inset pocket in an article of clothing: the invention also is applicable to patch pockets, and to the fronts of garments, or to other cloth articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The incorporation of welts in clothing is widely practiced, both for ornamental reasons and for strengthening and reinforcing an edge of the article of clothing such as a pocket on a coat or jacket.
In the traditional method of making a welt, after cutting the welt out of fabric, it is sewn onto the front of the garment, or anywhere on the garment where it belongs to serve the function of a pocket, either for use and/or for ornamentation. Also, the same steps are taken whether or not there is a variation of size or shape of the pocket.
Heretofore, when preparing a welt, a great number of individual and sequential steps were necessary which required hand labor and consumed time. First, the welt was sewn onto a piece of selesia or other lining material. Then, the corners of the welt were sewn down after the welt was bent up enough so that the selesia would not show when the welt was turned. The welt corners were then cut away or notched, so that the welt could be turned. Then the welt was turned. Next the welt was pressed. Thereupon the welt lining or selesia was slit on the side, or not slit, but marked, e.g. with chalk, for setting on the garment. All of these large number of steps entailed hand and machine operations which were costly in terms of time and labor, and which increased the cost of the finished goods, e.g. the article of clothing. It is well known that in the mass production of consumer items, small incremental savings in unit cost of manufacture add up to large annual savings and increased profit for the operation; hence any reduction, particularly a large reduction, in the number of operations performed to fabricate a welt that is ready for incorporation in an article of clothing, would be highly desirable.